Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Senator that we will continue to monitor all those metrics in the Department. We have a huge challenge in the winter months in terms of the security of tenancies but the fact that the temporary no-fault eviction ban is in place gives us time to increase the supply. That is the key area. We are trying to increase right over our cities and rural areas the supply of housing, which is the only answer. Bans are not an answer in trying to ensure people get sustainable tenancies. We have a small window in which to increase that scale and especially emergency accommodation provision, which we are working on. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, made a statement on the numbers he expects over the next two quarters. That will alleviate things when the ban terminates. We are working with the increase to 35% in HAP. The figure of €215 million is an increase of 10% on last year in terms of supporting homelessness with our NGOs. We will continue to do that at pace.